Teaching career?

[Cooper]

So, I'm thinking about being a teacher. I enjoy reading and helping with other people's essays, and I enjoy lots of topics that wouldn't really be helpful career-wise unless I taught. Thing is, I have no idea what sort of degrees I'd have to have to go about doing this.

I know I could be good at teaching: Religion, sociology, psychology, English, civics, and economics. With psychology and English being the big two.

Any suggestions? Anybody working on being a teacher, who are a teacher, and so on? I've only just started contemplating this, and I want to gather more info. Googling this has only given me ads for online colleges though. :/

[fireheart]

teaching student here!

I would imagine that there would be a specific teaching course that you would need to do. Usually it'll be a Bachelor of Education or Bachelor of Teaching. It may also be a Masters if needed (I'm currently doing a Masters in Teaching). Check with your local teachers registration board/group for an idea of what courses they want.

Make sure that you consider which age group you want to teach first: elementary, middle or secondary. Some degrees will combine the latter two (at least over here they do) and some will combine the first two.

If you do decide to go down the secondary route (grades six through twelve), generally you need to specialise in at least one area of learning, but two is preferable. The combinations don't always need to link to each other i.e. a friend of mine specialised in legal studies and mathematics.

Most teaching courses are more hands-on than your typical degree and may not necessarily involve a lot of essays. They might involve you writing lesson plans or unit plans (basically a topic spread out over a period of time), creating resources, finding resources and so on.

The biggest component is the field placement. The blocks of time can vary, but at least for me, I did four weeks last year (which became eight when I failed my first prac) and next year I'll be doing eight weeks (2 weeks planning, six weeks actual teaching). They will always be full time and involve you being paired up with a mentor teacher. The first few days would likely be observing, helping etc. and then you gradually start by taking one lesson and building up over time. Don't be afraid to ask them questions. There are also guidelines that the mentor teacher has to meet for OHS reasons.

If you have mental health issues, it should NOT stop you from becoming a teacher. Be clear about it as well-your mentor teacher may be able to provide you with strategies to cope if you're struggling (one thing I've found helpful has been to have a backup in place. If I start having an anxiety attack, I go "How would you do <whatever I'm doing> <teacher>" and that's code for "Can you take over for five minutes so I can breathe?") or the school can provide you with support. I'm in that position myself and one of my friends has a mentor teacher with OCD. So yes, it IS possible.

Do not discount the field of Special Education as well. Nearly all of the folks in my class (apart from one or two) are doing a Special Ed. degree because they want to work in a mainstream environment and be able to teach students with special needs in a mainstream classroom. There are a LOT of tools and advice that I've picked up from those classes and special education doesn't always mean a physical, learning, intellectual or other disability, it can also refer to gifted kids, kids with trauma and so on. One of your pracs WILL be in a special education environment of some sort, but you will most likely have some control over which area you want to specialise in (do you want to work in a special school or mainstream?)

You'll also hear the term "differentiation" come up a bit. The term simply refers to you adjusting your lessons to students needs. This can be either students likes/dislikes, students learner profiles (ie do they like to be more hands on, or do they analyse the heck out of everything?) or students levels of confidence in a task.

Finally, if you are 100% sure that you do want to teach, start collecting resources. Books, flash cards, movies, you name it.

[Teysa]

Something else you might do is see what the requirements are for being a substitute teacher in your area. While being a substitute isn't the same as being a regular teacher it will at least give you some classroom experience and help you decide if this is something you really want to do.

[Kheldarson]

Hi. Education grad, teacher certified, definitely not teaching. May go back someday.

Teaching is a great field, and honestly, since you're talking about the subjects themselves and not the students, you're probably like me in interest...which is secondary. You'll see the focus divide if you start any classes, believe me

If secondary is your goal, definitely figure out what age range you're comfortable with and figure out how to best get yourself to that age range. I kinda failed in that area; I like teaching high school/college history and I don't have a master's. So without a background in coaching sports either (thanks football!), I'm underqualified for my prefer age.

And I really can't handle younger. I tried. I left the position early.

If you go psychology, depending on your state program, it may be bundled in with Social Studies as a whole (it is in my state). If so, I HIGHLY recommend either continuing with the master's if you prefer older students OR double certify in something else (English is a popular combo that comes up with SS, but Math is always wanted as is Science). Special Education is always needed, too, and nationally certified schools will require you to have one or two classes that cover the basics of being in such a classroom. You may find you like that as well, and that's a REALLY powerful combo to have.

Okay, just looked up Michigan's certification endorsements, and they have separated out the Social Studies section. Or you could do Social Studies, just without psych or soci. So you'll have a decision there.

Sorry if I'm a bit of a downer, but these are the things I encountered when trying to get a job after graduating that my advisors didn't tell me. So keep those in mind as you make your choices. ALSO, getting hired is a lot of who you know. Subbing in the areas you want to teach is good.

[customersruinmylife]

I currently work as a classroom assistant in one of my many jobs (I currently have 4 if you count my Art business). I wanted to become a teacher but decided to go and get loads of experience just to make sure it was the right choice for me.

I have concluded that it isn't for me.

Now I LOVE my assistant job and the main reason for that is at the end of the day, I leave the building and I can FORGET about what a shitty day I've had. Well try to. Teachers cannot do that. They have to mark, they have endless meetings, paperwork, more meetings, parent/teacher nights, some more marking, concerts, plays, paperwork, angry parents visiting, paperwork, marking and some more paperwork. I simply cannot do that. I am the type of person who goes into work, works their arse off and then goes home.

With my evening office job in the school there are occasions in which teachers are still there working at 9pm. I have had to chase them out of the building. This is not a one off, I'm talking two or three times a week. There was one occasion in which a teacher was locked in the building.

So that is my experience from the UK. I could say more but I would put this thread into Fratching. It may just have been the school I worked in, as the management is pretty clueless but I knew it wasn't for me when I discovered they gave more of a shit about paperwork rather than education or welfare.

[PhiSigGirl1988]

What county in Michigan do you live in, may I ask? I also live in Michigan and have quite a few friends going into education. If you're around my area, I could potentially be able to help you.

[fireheart]

Now I LOVE my assistant job and the main reason for that is at the end of the day, I leave the building and I can FORGET about what a shitty day I've had. Well try to. Teachers cannot do that. They have to mark, they have endless meetings, paperwork, more meetings, parent/teacher nights, some more marking, concerts, plays, paperwork, angry parents visiting, paperwork, marking and some more paperwork. I simply cannot do that. I am the type of person who goes into work, works their arse off and then goes home.

And this is what I hate about teacher bashers. They seem to think that we are there until 3 and then leave. Not necessarily the case.

I know that with Special Education, I am going to have a LOT more paperwork than the average class teacher. I'll be making NEPs/IEP's, creating FBA's, marking diagnostic tests, writing referrals and if I'm in a mainstream class, I'll have the usual mainstream paperwork. I'm aiming to minimize some of the "paper" with my iPad. (just need to find an app that lets me record behaviour and I'll be good!)

[Seshat]

In Australia - or at least in Queensland when I was going through university - there were two major paths to being a teacher.

Path 1: Bachelor of Education. Specialties included special ed, early childhood, middle school, and teenage years; and if you were planning to teach a particular subject, you'd either double-major, or minor in your preferred subject.
High school teachers needed a subject; special ed and early childhood didn't, and middle school was maybe yes/maybe no.

Path 2: Bachelor of <subject>, plus a Graduate Diploma in Education. Many subjects which would lead to a teaching position had a version of their program which worked the GD subjects in as you went, so you wound up graduating with the lot in one go rather than doing what you love, then doing a year in teaching.

NOTE: this is a different state to Fireheart's, and it was twenty years ago. Things may have changed, and were probably different in Qld and SA even then.

[fireheart]

In Australia - or at least in Queensland when I was going through university - there were two major paths to being a teacher.
<snip>
NOTE: this is a different state to Fireheart's, and it was twenty years ago. Things may have changed, and were probably different in Qld and SA even then.

That is pretty much identical to what ours is now. The only difference to what you've described is that instead of having separate degrees for middle and secondary, they've merged them into one. You need to be able to teach one subject at least to year 10 level and one to year 12. I suspect that with the new Australian curriculum coming in, the training will also be more or less nationalised too.

The specialities are: early childhood (daycare to year 2), primary (R-7), middle/secondary (years 6-12, most of those teachers are more designed for secondary than middle school though), special education (linked with any one of those degrees) and languages (at the bare minimum, you need to complete 1 year of study to teach to year 7 level, two years to teach to year 10 and three years to teach year 12 in a particular language).

Special education in my state can go down one of the following paths:

-inclusive classroom (where you're teaching kids with special needs in the same classroom as mainstream)

-special class or unit (for most people this refers to children with intellectual or multiple disabilities, although in my state, it also includes hearing impaired classes despite the fact that those classes better fit the description of an inclusive classroom)

-special school (as it says on the can. There is one school for the blind in my state, which also provides mainstream programs to high schools, the rest all cater primarily for intellectual disabilities, with ONE school exclusively for physical disabilities and one school for deafblind children)

My main goal is learning more towards the first two. I want to do some more study into becoming a teacher of the blind/deaf, but they don't offer those courses in my state. The closest is a course in teaching the blind.

[Kheldarson]

Here in the US, as a reference, there are a number of different paths:

1. College: Bachelor of Education with focus in X; X is your area. This is usually determined by state what your college will cover. So at my school, you had Early Ed (PreK and K), Elementary Ed (K-5), and then your secondary level classes (mine personally was Social Studies). You do not have to double major in your chosen field, although, honestly, there's so much overlap, why not? Again, this is determined by state. Some of the secondary fields are further broken down by grade (like I believe Science and Math had a middle and high school) and others aren't (again, my degree covers 5-Adult).

2. Grad Degree: Go back to school and get your Master's in Ed in order to teach the subject you majored in while an undergrad. Certification determined by state. Haven't been through this so I can't speak too much as to the full process.

3. Vets to Teachers or other pass-in methods: This is a method that allows schools to hire directly from the work pool and train teachers. Basically, you hire somebody you believe will fit in your school and has the knowledge you need and then train them as they teach in the classroom management and teaching background that is required by the state. I believe they go through local colleges.

A lot of states have reciprocity with other states, so, to an extent, your certification doesn't have a massive difference from state to state. But they're all still rather individualized. Biggest thing is to do well on the Praxis tests. The higher the score the more states will be willing to use your certification and also mark you has highly qualified, which is key anymore here.

[Seshat]

My main goal is learning more towards the first two. I want to do some more study into becoming a teacher of the blind/deaf, but they don't offer those courses in my state. The closest is a course in teaching the blind.

If you start studying Auslan, let me know: I need a signer to practice with! In fact, you can help teach me.

I've a hearing impairment, and it might be a degenerative one - it's too soon to tell. So I'm trying to learn Auslan now: but because it's so hard for me to leave the house, the only people I can practice with on a regular basis are my family.
And while they're happy to learn, it's me leading them on learning it rather than all of us learning together.

Anyway, if you decide to learn Auslan, I'd LOVE to Skype chats with you. (or, y'know, whatever webcam convo system suits you.)

[mathnerd]

I agree with the suggestion to look into substitute/aide/volunteer positions to get an idea of what a classroom is really like. Teaching is very different from what most people think it is. Besides actual teaching, and as others have mentioned, there's endless paperwork, dealing with parents and politics and student attitudes that you must contend with. You will never get enough time during your work day to mark papers and plan lessons. Students will come to you on grade level, behind and ahead. You have to teach all of them. For some people these things might be deal breakers. If you can find out that you are one of those people before you spend a lot of time and money on a degree, that's helpful. It will also help you decide what age group you like the best. For me, that's middle school. The little ones scare me and I don't like the attitudes of the high school students. Middle school students, and 7th grade in particular, are my favorites.

If you don't already have a bachelor's degree, look into the requirements at the university you plan on attending. Most schools will have a fair number of practicums and student teaching. Student teaching is the part that gets a lot of working adults. It's a lot of hours and doesn't leave much time for a job on top of that. If you do already have a bachelor's degree, look into graduate school requirements or Alternative Certification programs, though the latter might not be available in a non "high needs" area.

Lastly, competition for teaching jobs right now is brutal, particularly in Language Arts and Social Studies. I've been a member of a teacher's discussion board for years and I can't tell you how many other members have been job searching for years. It's fairly common for people to be posting about their job searches for 3 years or longer. Many of those people wind up giving up on finding a teaching job entirely, or branching out and looking for positions such as aides, substitutes, Title I, after school programs and things of that nature. Other teachers are lucky enough to find a position, but find themselves pink slipped or non-renewed at the end of every single year because districts are facing extreme budget cuts. It's very stressful, but if it's something you love, then it's worth it.

Good luck!

[KhirasHY]

As I'm trying to become a History teacher some day myself, I can note that exactly what you need to have to teach at various levels can vastly change depending on the grade, and the state you're in. For instance, where I am, I could simply get a history degree and a teaching certification (not too hard, if you're studying towards it) and teach easily anywhere in the Elementary through High School level. College level would be more in line with working towards a doctorate in the specific field of study.

Meanwhile, a friend in another state had to get two degrees (English and Education) to qualify as a teacher in his area, so it can vary quite a bit. That said, before you drop the cash on classes for an Education degree, find out if it's a requirement for teaching in your area. Some states don't even require teaching certifications.

[Kheldarson]

A note though on History: if you're intending to teach at high school, a lot of them want teachers to have a master's now. At least here on the East Coast.

So ya know.